Westminster this week: brain tumour research and living wage debates, meeting Air Ambulance teams, + rail in the north dominate

The Commons today has a double header which I am trying to attend - a debate on the living wage and its impact, and a separate debate in Westminster hall at the same time on the petition relating to brain tumour research. 
My views on the living wage are well known, but here is my recent Morpteth Herald article: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/local-news/millions-will-benefit-from-living-wage-1-7846301

The Brain Tumour Research Petition, and the evidence gathered as part of this, has produced a full report, and it is the findings of this report that the Commons will debate upon. Local mum of Stu Ridley, Celia Ridley, has helped with this evidence making process. 

It is clear from the report that we need to change the emphasis of cancer research funding so that more funding can be channelled into researching brain tumours. Importantly, central government only has the power to assign the money, but not what areas that money is invested into. The actual total amount available has gone up, but the allocation to brain tumour research is low as they are competitive with other cancer charities and research specialisms. This is something which the relevant bodies – Cancer Research UK & the Cancer Research Institute in particular – ultimately decide. However today's debate in the House of Commons can help to shape the future of funding. I will be attending for at least part of the debate. 

Sedately this week I shall be getting a briefing on air ambulance developments, both locally and nationally, and debating the financial services bill, along with trying to make the Rail in the North meeting on Tuesday. 

Living Wage at £7.20 in 2 days! Really proud this government has introduced a British pay rise

On 1^st April 2016, the National Living Wage will become law. From this date employers need to pay eligible employees, aged 25 and over, at least the new rate of £7.20 per hour.

You should see the increase in your pay automatically from April, if you currently earn less than £7.20 per hour, and are eligible. If you don’t see a difference in pay, you can speak to your employer or get in contact with the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (ACAS) helpline on 0300 123 1100 or visit the ACAS page. Equally, businesses need to update the company payroll in time for 1 April 2016 to make sure they are paying their workers correctly, and communicate the changes to staff as soon as possible.

This was an issue I championed in the previous parliament. We need to ensure that work always pays, and that a hard day's work always mean a fair day's pay. Employers have a duty to look after their employees, and the evidence suggests that this helps businesses as well; by increasing retention, motivation, and profits in the long-term. A link to an article I wrote in the New Statesman about this, can be found here http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/guy-opperman-conservative-case-living-wage

The National Living Wage will provide a direct boost to over one million workers in the UK this year – rewarding and providing security for working people. It is a key part of this Government’s plan to continue to move to a higher wage, lower tax, and lower welfare society, building a more productive country, and giving families the security of well-paid work.

For more information you can visit the website: http://bit.ly/1RbKs8Z. 

Welfare Reform Bill debate tomorrow will define Labour - back to the 1970s again or supporting change?

Tomorrow the Labour party will have to debate the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill. It contains measures which the interim leader, Harriet Harman, said a week ago that Labour would not oppose.

Except that Corbyn, Burnham and Cooper [3 out of 4 leadership candidates] then said that actually they would oppose it. So Harriet backtracked and tried to come up with some sort of compromise that the warring factions of Labour can more or less agree on.

So, whereas previously the welfare reforms were ones which Labour should not oppose because people “want us to listen to their concerns and we’ve got to recognise why it is that the Tories are in government”, now they are unacceptable and hurt the poor. Todays Labour Party are oblivious to the way that the welfare system has caused millions of people to lead miserable, benefit-dependent lives without satisfaction or dignity. They should embrace universal credit, the Living Wage, the benefit cap and the reforms that will create a benefits system that helps people back to work, giving them hope of a brighter future. This will be a crucial test for Labour. Will it finally stand up for refrom, for people who work hard and do the right thing, and for those who want a way out of welfare? Or will it carry on with an approach that has failed our country.

Pleased that our long campaign on the Living Wage has been listened to today

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/guy-opperman-conservative-case-living-wage

Proud to support Living Wage in Debate in the House of Commons today - My speech and full debate

Today in the Commons I hosted the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty, along with the Living Wage Foundation, Citizens UK, and partners such as KPMG, the Reverend Angus Ritchie and many MPs from 4 different parties including a thoughtful contribution of Mark Durkan MP for Foyle in Northern Ireland. We also heard from Nana-Ben one of the cleaners in the DFT who explained how it would make a difference to him if he was paid the living wage. It was a very positive and helpful morning. Then it was a mad rush to the Commons - I was involved in the Iran debate first - but at around 3pm we started the Living Wage debate

My full speech today is here: 3.35 pm

Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con):

I wholeheartedly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White) on securing the debate and I thank the Backbench Business Committee. Some would say that Parliament does not often have important debates, but with the debate on Iran and now this debate on the living wage, I cannot think of a more important day to be in Parliament. I am delighted to be here to support my hon. Friend.

I was delighted, too, to have been part of a briefing that took place with the all-party group on poverty this morning with the good people from the Living Wage Foundation and Citizens UK, who came to the House of Commons and met several hon. Members, from many different political parties, to brief them on the living wage and to hear some of their experiences. I thank Emma Kosmin and Stefan Baskerville for coming in, along with the Rev. Angus Ritchie, Mike Kelly and Nana-Ben, who is the cleaner I mentioned earlier from the Department for Transport.

 

This is not just a debate on the living wage but a debate on tax thresholds and tax credits, but one must start with the wonderful news that the living wage has risen again this week. I was pleased to see the Mayor of London going to Kaffeine, a coffee shop in Great Titchfield street, to celebrate and support it. The Evening Standard pictured him with a large cake, which I am not sure is quite the message we are trying to get across, but the point is that he has been an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of the living wage, and quite right too.

I am sure the Minister will make the point that it is fantastic that it is this Government—acting as a coalition, to be perfectly fair—who have raised the tax threshold, which makes a massive difference to the pennies and pounds in the pockets of people earning a living wage or a minimum wage. That is the first direct impact. Clearly, there is a legitimate and correct debate on tax credits and how one takes them forward. I will leave others to discuss that in more detail, although I did set out my views on that in fairly lengthy detail in an article for the New Statesman in July 2013.

 

Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab):

I enjoyed reading that article, in which I think the hon. Gentleman described himself as an old-fashioned left winger. I think he would acknowledge that the advantages of an increase in the tax thresholds he describes are significantly undermined for people on the lowest incomes by the fact that tax credits are withdrawn to such a large extent.

 

Guy Opperman:

I am delighted that the right hon. Gentleman, who sits on the Opposition Front Bench, is taking advice and instruction from me, a humble Back Bencher in this House since only 2010, but I take his point. The Government clearly need to address how taxing the individual is dealt with to avoid the problems he identifies so eloquently. I do not think it is quite as simple as he sets out. I accept and endorse the approach of the Chancellor: I think the fundamental is the tax threshold and then how we deal with tax credits. The harsh reality, as the right hon. Gentleman will know from the article he read, is that we have the bizarre situation where the Government step in and provide tax credits to the tune of approximately £4 billion for a variety of individuals when they should be encouraging an increase in wages and taking away tax. I will, however, leave that debate for another day.

We can provide local leadership. I am proud to wear the badge of the Living Wage Foundation, and I am a living wage employer in the House of Commons. I would like the foundation to accredit MPs who pay the living wage in order to incentivise us not only to talk the talk but to walk the walk. In addition, particularly in living wage week, I would urge all Members, if they have not done so already, to visit the living wage employers in their constituencies. I have met several of mine.

My hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) asked about small employers, particularly in rural locations, but, as is well known, the Federation of Small Businesses supports payment of the living wage on a voluntary basis. I can give some local examples. Aquila Housing, in Gateshead, and several churches in my constituency have shown the benefits, and Mike Joslin, an employer in the north-east and across the country, would eloquently set out the benefit it has brought to his relatively small business. However, my best example is the fine coffee shop Tea and Tipple, in Corbridge, which has barely three or four members of staff. When the snows fell—they fall through to May in Northumberland—his staff fought through the snow to get to work and open the coffee shop. There was clearly a sense of camaraderie, loyalty and commitment to the business that he might not have seen had he not been a living wage employer. He went the extra mile for his staff, and they went the extra mile for him.

 

Of course, we should be pushing the large employers too. Today, I met Mike Kelly of KPMG, and the human resources directors of companies such as Barclays. We need to ask the large employers in our cities and regions why they are not living wage employers. When KPMG did the transfer in 2005-06, it found that approximately 700 members of staff were not being paid the living wage, but when it compared the turnover of non-living wage staff with that of living wage staff, it found that the turnover dropped from 47% to 24% in one year.

 

In my New Statesman article, I cited the example of Costco. Craig Jelinek, its chief executive, who pays the living wage in America, said:

“We know it’s a lot more profitable in the long term to minimise employee turnover and maximise employee productivity, commitment and loyalty.”

I think he is right. Last year, when I spoke to Dominic Johnson, Barclays’ HR director, he was clear that it made sense for business.

When I go to my local Barclays in Hexham or any other branch, I am told that when cleaning staff are paid the living wage—traditionally it is the cleaning staff who slip through the net—capitalism takes over and, market forces being what they are, everyone wants to be a cleaner for Barclays, staff turnover drops through the floor, everyone feels much more valued and the offices are cleaned faster. Bizarrely, therefore, paying people more ends up costing the business less, and the quality of the product—the cleanliness of the offices—is improved.

 

There are, then, examples from big businesses and small businesses, and I am pleased that the public sector and the various Government Departments are leading the way. Some are quick to criticise Departments for not moving quickly enough, but it is extraordinarily difficult for some—the NHS, for example, has a vast array of subcontractors and private finance initiative contracts—to change.

But if I can move on, in the limited time we have, to allow others to speak—

 

Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Dawn Primarolo):

Order. Perhaps I can give the hon. Gentleman some guidance about how limited the time is. We have to conclude the debate so that we can hear the wind-ups within 50 minutes. I currently have seven other speakers, so I am going to ask people to be disciplined, so that nobody is squeezed out. The hon. Gentleman might bear that in mind, given that he has already been speaking for 10 minutes.

 

Guy Opperman:

I will take barely a minute more, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The living wage is a campaign that unites all faiths. It unites Christians, Muslims, Jews and those of other faiths, and quite rightly so. When this was first looked at, it was decided that it was an idea whose time had come. I cannot endorse that more strongly.

You can read all the debate here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-commons-debates/read/unknown/692/

Good news that the Living Wage has risen and my thanks to all LW Employers

The UK "living wage" - an hourly rate based on the amount needed to cover the basic costs of living - has been raised by 20p to £7.85.

The voluntary wage - set by the Living Wage Foundation - is now 21% higher than the compulsory National Minimum Wage, which is currently £6.50 an hour.

The rate in London will rise from £8.80 an hour to £9.15, the mayor, Boris Johnson, announced.
My thanks to the growing number of businesses in the North East who are paying the living wage. My views on this can be seen in more detail here: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/guy-opperman-conservative-case-living-wage

Westminster this week

The Wylam First School meeting with David Laws is today as we try and recover the cost of their new kitchen equipment. Meetings tomorrow concerning the A69 with the Highways Agency. Today also sees the Living Wage announcement. There is a debate later this week on the Living Wage, although I am no sure if I go north on Thursday or Friday, so I am not sure if I can make the debate.
Also very busy with Home Office matters this week 

Boris Johnson to return to Westminster - thoughts and assessment

Boris is a low tax, centre right, one nation politician who really understands people and how to beat Labour. I am delighted he is going to be involved in the 2015 election and will be happy to welcome him back to the House of Commons, if successful, in 2015.
To use the football analogy - "He is a top striker and you need your best players on the pitch."

I have met Boris many times and he is a complex character - very bright, very experienced, a very successful two times Mayor with a proven track record. He also has a with a wicked sense of humour and a great speaking style. He is also a full time cyclist, a strong advocate of the living wage, and one of the best MPs I have ever seen at talking to anyone. He genuinely likes people, which is the most important asset inan MP. And he cares. He will be a big asset.
Also he is very good at explaining why it would be lunacy to make Ed Miliband Prime Minister and Ed Balls Chancellor. And that is the prospect this country faces in 2015.

Fuller details here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28673113

Living Wage debate on BBC Radio Newcastle 8.05am tomorrow

Myself and Neil Foster of the TUC will be making the case for the Living Wage live on Newcastle Radio tomorrow morning and debating the issue with the BBC presenters. I will be at my desk in the House of Commons but live on the phone.
The final report of the Living Wage Commission is out tomorrow: http://livingwagecommission.org.uk/
I am going to the launch event and discussion in the afternoon in central london.

The London Living Wage is £8.80

The UK Living Wage is £7.65

At the event we held in Newcastle on March 28th the number of companies paying the Living Wage in the North East was below 30 but the figure is growing month on month as we sell the message that this is good for business, and good for jobs as well as good for employees.
If you have not read it my article for the New Statesman on the Living Wage is here:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/guy-opperman-conservative-case-living-wage

BBC Sunday Politics Show on Iplayer - 36 minutes, 30 seconds in

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03yvtxc/Sunday_Politics_North_East_and_Cumbria_30_03_2014/
Discussion of Living Wage, Welfare Cap, Labour disarray on welfare and SNP stance on the referendum on scottish independence

10,000 pounds earnings before you pay tax - real help for the low paid from tomorrow

The amount of money that workers can earn before they start paying tax will be raised to £10,000 from tomorrow.
That will take another 700,000 people out of tax altogether.

RECENT TAX FREE ALLOWANCES

• 
  2010/11 - £6,475
• 2011/12 - £7,475
• 2012/13 - £8,105
• 2013/14 - £9,400
• 2014/15 - £10,000

Living Wage Conference this Friday morning in Newcastle

The Living Wage Foundation and I have been working together for a while now, and we want to spread the Living Wage message to the North East. I have met with and worked closely with Boris Johnson and his team in London, and seen the changes their leadership is bringing in London. In addition, I have met with many employers and employees, and discussed the nuts and bolts of payment of a Living Wage for both the employee and the employer. As a result I want to hold Friday's event to raise the profile of the Living Wage in the North East.

Like everyone I welcome the increase in National Minimum Wage - up 19p to £6.50 from October, but this does not change the bottom-up argument for the Living Wage. I do not support a statutory Living Wage. It should continue to be an organic, voluntary campaign, because that is when it is at its best; certainly if you look at London and the South East the campaign has really taken off and gained momentum.

Part of Friday is making the case to employers, and the wider public, and showing that businesses can benefit from paying the Wage, just as much as employees can. I have spoken to businesses that say that morale has been boosted, productivity increased and staff turnover decreased, as a result of paying the Wage. We need to shout about these benefits. Fridays event, beginning at 9.30, will feature such diverse employers as KPMG, our hosts, to the local housing provider, Aquila Way, with representatives from the Church, Councillors, other local businesses and such key stakeholders as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the TUC. It is not too late to come along, whether to listen to us make the case or merely to observe - but call the Hexham office if you want to come. As Boris and the PM have made clear - "this is an idea whose time has come".

If you want to read more, my detailed article on the subject, and an assessment of the pros and cons for a volontary Living Wage is in last summer's New Statesman here: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/guy-opperman-conservative-case-living-wage

Great news that Low Pay Commission agree Minimum Wage to rise 3%, and faster than inflation

The Low Pay Commission has recommended a 3% increase in the minimum wage to £6.50 an hour for adults. This is great news and what we have been campaigning on for some time.
Unions and Businesses welcomed the move:
TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: "This is a welcome increase in the minimum wage, which starts to recover some of the ground it has lost since 2008."
Several employers' organisations, the EEF, the CBI and the Forum of Private Business also gave the recommendations a cautious welcome.

Minimum Wage set to rise!

Great news announced today by the Chancellor; he has said he wants to see an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage. He told the BBC the "economy can now afford" to raise the rate, currently set at £6.31 an hour for people over the age of 21. This is the next step in a long campaign led by Renewal, David Skelton, Rob Halfon MP, Matt Hancock MP,myself, Chris White MP, Paul Maynard MP and others. Full story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25766558

Good news on Minimum Wage as we toughen up the laws

Since 2010 the Government have increased the Minimum Wage despite inheriting the worst recession in a century. We have also created over a million new jobs and cut the income tax and tax threshholds of low paid workers. I could go on about the doubling of apprenticeships and the focus on skills for young workers but I want to applaud the decision to address minimum wage avoidance.
Anyone entitled to the national minimum wage should receive it. Paying anything less than this is unacceptable, illegal and will be punished by law. So we are bringing in tougher financial penalties to crackdown on those who do not play by the rules. Subject to Parliamentary approval, by February 2014 employers who do not pay their workers the national minimum wage will face an increased penalty of up to £20,000.
The national minimum wage plays an important role in supporting low-paid hardworking people. Enforcing it is a key to ensuring those who play by the rules and do the right thing are treated fairly.
If I am able to I will be speaking on the issue later today in the House, and our campaign to get North East employers to pay a North East Living Wage continues.

Momentum building on our campaign to raise the minimum wage

Regular readers will know that I have long campaigned for a voluntary living wage and an enhanced minimum wage.

I am pleased that as the economy recovers the ability to address the minimum wage becomes ever more likely. Yesterday my colleague at Treasury, the minister Sajid Javid said there is a ‘strong case to look at’ raising the minimum wage, joining Matt Hancock's long campaign support on this issue; this is an issue that even right wingers have changed upon. For example, on Newsnight Mark Reckless, the right-wing Tory MP told the programme that he had been wrong to oppose it previously and that it would be a good thing:

‘I would 10 years ago have said no to [an increase in the minimum wage] for the same reason I opposed it, which is because I was concerned it was going to cost jobs. I think the evidence has not borne that out as much as was fit and I think two very important things have changed, and that is one it would actually save the taxpayers’ money because of the extent to which the taxpayer is topping up low wages through tax credits.’

I will continue to make the case to the Chancellor that this is something he is now able to do in the next Budget, as the economy recovers, and in harmony with the ever increasing voluntary sign up to the Living Wage.

Living Wage Week - good news in London but more 2 be done in the north east

Today I was with Boris Johnson at Great Ormond Street Hospital when he announced the increase in the London Living Wage to £8.80. There are now 432 companies accredited as paying the living wage.
The "living wage" rate for London, which is calculated on the cost of living in the capital, has been increased to £8.80, a rise of 25p.
Since it was introduced in 2005, many employers have signed up - some of whom I have met like Aquila Way and Barclays. Today I sat next to the representative from Aviva, and with other big businesses like Linklaters, KPMG, and charities like Save the Children.
The highlight of yesterday was
- not the wonderful Rabbi, whose North London Synagogue is a living wage employer, albeit she spoke well
- nor the Mayor, who gave a great speech
- but young Lacey Green, a supervisor at the William Morris Pub in Colliers Wood. She spoke with passion and eloquence at the podium of the courage of her employers, Faucet Inns, who are a living wage employer, and the difference it had made to her and her childs life. She spoke really well.

I welcome that we are talking about pay - whether it is a discussion of the minimum wage, the raising of the income tax threshold, the need for better skills to empower more people into better paying jobs, and the ways in which we can address the problems with employer take up of the living wage. I do not think Ed Miliband's idea is much more than a short term gimmick, albeit the gem of an idea is there. The simple criticism is if the policy works, and is sustainable, then why is it for a short period of time, and how will it be paid for? As I say I do believe work needs to be done on tax reform and incentivisation, but I do not believe Ed has the right policy tweak. We need companies to be publishing numbers of people not earning the living wage, and I will be doing all I can to ensure more companies in the North East sign up.

The fact of the living wage should not be in doubt. As Boris said today - you can be a low tax, centre right capitalist, but totally support the living wage: it does not just address social justice but makes economic sense by producing -
- higher morale,
- better productivity
- better staff retention and motivation
- lower overheads
and thereby creates more jobs

Boris Johnson added: "Paying the London Living Wage ensures hard-working Londoners are helped to make ends meet, providing a boost not only for their personal quality of life but delivering indisputable economic dividends to employers too."
For last weeks debate on low pay, in which I spoke, as did the Minister, Matt Hancock, look here:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2013-10-30a.316.1&s=speaker%3A24962#g318.0

Being a moderniser means making work pay - and that includes the living wage

Mary Riddell in todays Telegraph has a nice piece where she describes me as a moderniser:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10412178/Labour-has-its-sights-trained-on-the-laurel-hedges-of-the-suburbs.html
The reason is the work that I am doing championing the living wage and looking at ways to incentivise employers to pay a living wage. As Mary writes today:
"Some onlookers, noting mounting chatter around the Treasury, think there is a chance that Mr Osborne will shortly promise to legislate to raise the minimum wage. Other MPs, while doubtful that he would go so far, think it likely that he will either adjust National Insurance or take all minimum wage earners out of income tax by raising the threshold to £12,500."